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International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction 13(1) Special Issue

(2017) 537–551

IJCI International

Journal of Curriculum and

Instruction

537

Effects of COVID-19 period on educational systems

and institutions

Hüsne Mehtap SÜT1, Behçet ÖZNAÇAR2

1 Near East University, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Nicosia 99138, Turkey

2 Near East University, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Nicosia 99138, Turkey

Abstract

The COVID-19 is currently having a serious impact on the business organizations and the lives of people; and

influencing the supply chain due to worldwide lockdown. The governments and medical department do not

have any specific plan and medical support to control the pandemic. The educational system and institutions

are going through a tough time in order to maintain the educational activities as the immune system of

children and students is weak, which might affect the health badly. The study investigated the impact of

COVID-19 period on education systems and institutions. For this purpose, the data were collected through a

questionnaire responded by 50 participants (teachers and students). The participants were selected using the

non-probability sampling method. The results revealed that there was a negative impact on an educational

system like loss of human resources, investment for developing the online system for smart classes and

providing the data and information using the technology.

© 2016 IJCI & the Authors. Published by International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction (IJCI). This is an open-

access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY-NC-ND)

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: COVID-19 period, education systems, education institutions, loss of resources, health concerns

Corresponding author: Mehtap Sut

E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

538 H.Sut, B.Oznacar/International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction13(1)Special Issue(2021) 537–551

1. Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world and influences the various

sector for longer period of time. It will be difficult for businesses to operate in such an

environment where the demand will be low due to the change in the social environment.

The medical authorities in different nations have not found the appropriate way to

overcome the impact of this issue. The cases of COVID-19 are breaking the record every

day and increasing the problems for the world and raising many questions for businesses,

education, agriculture, import-export and supply chain at the local and global level

(Casero-Ripollés, 2020). The virus is attacking people most with a weak immune system

or having some critical disease already. The lack of treatment options and the shortage of

medical and protective kits are harming the process of maintaining stability in business

and other sectors. The COVID-19 is having a significant impact on all sectors of societies

at the international level, and people are facing a very tough time as it has blocked all

the economic, social, educational and business sectors. It is a very difficult time for the

educational institutes to commence sessions and parents to send their children to schools,

college and university to continue the education and complete the courses (Vladescu,

2016).

COVID-19 Pandemic can affect the children largely as less understanding about the

concept of social distancing is a serious issue for educational institutes as well as for

parents. Commencing the educational institutes at this point of time is a risky affair,

especially when the number of cases is increasing, and the medical department has not

confirmed any vaccine or impactful treatment for COVID-19. Therefore, analysis and

planning of future actions for managing the education system and implementation of

changes in the approach of educational institutions are essential (McKibbin and

Fernando, 2020). The governments of nations are helpless and searching for the

treatment options, protecting measures and anti-dotes of the virus that is affecting the

human life badly. Education and learning are one of the major needs of societies, and due

to this pandemic issue, the teachers and students are facing a tough situation to continue

their courses. Approximately 1.726 billion learners in the world are currently affected

due to school closures in response to the pandemic. As per the UNICEF data, more than

134 countries have implemented nationwide closure, and that is having a negative

impact on the offering of courses and completion of degrees and class activities (Rundle et

al., 2020).

The current position of the world is very critical in this scenario as no one knows about

the transmission of the virus and how it might be stopped. According to Currie et al.

(2020), COVID-19 is one of the most critical challenges for mankind and affecting global

health after the 2nd World War. This infectious respiratory disease emerged in Wuhan,

China, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has named it corona virus. The

current outbreak of diseases has affected more than 2.164.772 people in the world and

killed 146.822 people in 200 countries. Till now, there is no report of clinically approved

539

H.Sut, B.Oznacar/International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction13(1)Special Issue(2021) 537–551

antivirus drugs or vaccines that are effective against COVID-19. The situation of the

world is getting worse with the spread of this virus and creating challenges for the health

system, economy, environment and social life of the entire population. WHO and leading

nations are searching for drug or any clinical approach to cure the patients and control

the spread of the virus (Sintema, 2020).

The business organisations are facing a tough time too as supply chain, production

and demand of the products and services are very low, and people do not have enough

income as companies are not offering full salaries due to lockdown. Apart from this

Vladescu (2017) has analysed that, the lack of medical assistance for protecting from

the attack of the virus will have more impact on the future activities of businesses,

education centres and import-export trade among the countries. The leading medical and

research organisations are working on the project to develop the anti-dotes, but it will

take time. The lack of proper measures and treatment will increase the pressure on

national governments to provide economic and social support to the population.

However, the world is having technology and supremacy of modern means of

communication through the internet but lacking in developing the medicine for this

virus.

The corona virus attack has a significant impact on the education system and

structure as a lack of operational activities, and closure of educational institutions has

affected the progress. As per the views of Van Lancker and Parolin, (2020), the parents

and national governments are keen to protect the people and working on the plan to

manage the operations. The virus is attacking people, who are suffering from serious

disease like blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis. COVID-19 is attacking the

respiratory system of people who are having a weak immune system. Moreover, children

and adults do not have a strong immune system and understanding of social distancing

and following the rules to protect themselves. Therefore, this virus can attack their body

easily. The nationwide closures are impacting over 60% of the world students. The

leading universities of UK, Australia, USA and Canada are highly depended on the

movements of students from China and India. The restrictions for cross-boarder as well

as internal movements harm the financial operation, administrative action and offering

of the learning.

In addition to this, many parents will avoid sending their children abroad for higher

education due to the high risk of virus attack in the coming years. According to Ho, Chee,

and Ho (2020), the sudden shift to online learning will be difficult for the developing and

underdeveloped countries and educational authorities due to lack of infrastructure and

planning for the format that suits the new approach. The teachers and students are not

familiar with the equipment and process of online learning due to lack of technical

understanding.


The educational institution will be going to face various issues related to managing

the learning activities and engaging the students. As per the views of Karalis (2020), the

online learning is special kind of methodology and will have lack of acceptance from

teachers and students as all are not ready for the sudden transition from classroom

learning to online. The online platforms like Skype, Zoom and Google Duo are not

sufficient for offering the learning and engaging the students. The lack of internet

facility, devices and environment for online learning from home or other places will hurt

the learning approaches of institutions and influence the knowledge of the students to

understand the concepts and content of the course.

Apart from this, Vladescu (2016) has identified some opportunities for educational

institutions for further improvement in the system for offering the learning. According to

analysis, online learning will rise blended learning and develop the new norms for the

learning management system. The universities and colleges can shift towards the model

of blended learning and offer education through online tools which will be cost and time

effective for both teachers and students. However, teachers have to take training for

understanding the technical approach and become technology savvy.

The study aims to identify the negative and positive effects of COVID-19 on the

educational system and institutions.

1.1. Objectives

To understand the seriousness of COVID-19 on mankind

To analyse the effects of COVID-19 on the educational system

To identify the changes and opportunities for institutions due to COVID-19

1.2. Research Questions

What are the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the educational system?

How is it affecting the approach of educational institutions?

What are the major changes that can arise in the educational system and

functions of institutions?

1.3. Problem Statement and Sub-problems:

The world is facing serious issues due to COVID-19 pandemic that is influencing

economic, social and lifestyle of the people. The educational system and institutions are

affected by the issue badly as classroom activities are stopped due to nationwide closure.

The spread of the virus is increasing and having a significant impact on economic and

educational activities. The research analyses the negative and positive impact of this

pandemic issue.

541


The research is focusing on issues of COVID-19 on the education system and

institutions. This is a very serious issue as it is not only affecting the students but also

the teachers and families. Moreover, it will have far-reaching economic and societal

consequences, including student debt, digital learning, food insecurity, housing and

internet. Now, the research about issues related to effects of this pandemic on the whole

education system and institution will help to improve the understanding of the short and

long term issues as well as approaches that could be used for overcome and help in

managing the effectiveness for professional learning.

1.4. Research Methodology

The research required a systematic flow of the actions that help to improve the

effectiveness of outcome and achievement of the objectives. To develop the systematic

approach, there are two types of philosophies used, interpretive and positivism. For

current research related to the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the education

system and institution, the researcher has selected interpretive research philosophy. By

considering this philosophy, the researcher has collected and analysed the different

opinions of respondents and identifies the key actions to improve the situation. Apart

from this, interpretive philosophy has helped to maintain openness (Kumar, 2019).

Deductive and indicative research approaches are used for gaining an understanding

of the variables of the study and maintaining the flow of the analysis. For conducting

current research, the researcher has applied the indicative approach that also supports

in increasing reliability and validity. By implementing this approach, the researcher has

collected data for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the educational system and

institution using the questionnaire method (Fletcher, 2017). This was cost and time

effective and eliminated the issues related to the privacy of the respondents.

The strategic approach of the research study is developed by applying the appropriate

design. For achieving the proposed outcome, the researcher could apply the exploratory,

descriptive and casual design. The current research is based on data collected from the

questionnaire and to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on the educational system, the

descriptive design was useful. This kind of design has helped to analyse and social,

economic and technical aspects of the COVID-19 on the institution and support in

gaining the in-depth knowledge of issues and potential barriers in the offering of online

learning and changing the existing classroom approach of study (Wiek and Lang, 2016).

According to research methodology functions, to research in a professional manner,

two types of study have been followed that involve qualitative and quantitative. For the

current research, the researcher has applied descriptive design and collected the data

using the questionnaire method. Therefore, the study was based on the quantitative type

and helped to meet the objectives of the study (Mohajan, 2018). By using this type, the

researcher has made emphasis on direct and indirect factors that might influence the


educational system and approaches of institutions due to outbreak of Covid-19. It has

also supported in analysing the different variables for identifying the impact on online

learning due to changes in economic, demographic and employment level of the people.

1.5. Sampling

Sampling was done using the non-probability method as the researcher has chosen the

sample of students and teachers from the entire population according to own connivance.

For the current research, the researcher has selected a sample of 50 respondents and

shared the questionnaire to gain knowledge of their opinion for analysis of the impact of

COVID-19 on educational system and institution.

1.6. Data Collection

The collection of data for the present research was done using the primary method as

the researcher has applied descriptive design, quantitative type and indicative approach.

As indicated before, the questionnaire method via e-mail was used in order to collect the

data. Now, the collection of data by using this approach will be less time consuming as

the researcher has shared the questionnaire through email. Moreover, the use of the

questionnaire method has increased the reliability and validity of the outcome of the

research (Ørngreen and Levinsen, 2017). The data was collected from Turkey’s learning

management system, Eğitim Bilişim Ağı. The researcher has taken prior consent from

the respondents for participation in the research. The permission was taken from the

related department of Ministry of Education in Kahramanmaraş province.

1.7. Reliability and Validity of the Study

To maintain the reliability and validity of research, the researcher has asked

questions related to the subject matter and eliminated the wrong responses. To improve

validity of the study, the views of academics from the Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam

University were gathered. Moreover, to improve the validity of the study, the researcher

has collected the data from authentic sources and managed the analysis in proper ways. Descriptive and content analysis were used to analyze the data. Calculated according to

Miles and Huberman (1994)’s formula, the reliability of the data was found 85%.

Moreover, the researcher has focused upon ethical standards of study such as privacy of

the respondents, manipulation of the data and ensured that no data had been taken as

plagiarised. This kind of approach has improved the effectiveness and validity of the

research for analysing the impact of COVID-19 on the educational system and

approaches of the institutions.

543


1.8. Analysis Technique

It is an important part of the research, and the researcher has analysed the data by

using the thematic analysis method. According to this method, the researcher has done

the frequency distribution and analysed the response of respondents by developing the

graphs and tables. This kind of approach has helped the researcher and readers of the

study (Cuervo‐Cazurra et al., 2017). The thematic analysis has also improved the

reliability and eliminated the biasness in the study.

2. Results

To protect the people, social distancing and isolations are major things, but it is

having a significant impact on the educational system as physical appearance is required

for offering knowledge through classroom activities. The institutions are not allowed to

take classes and gathering of the students. This kind of situation is creating issues for

the educational system to maintain the flow of courses and activities of learning and

sharing the knowledge to students. The low attention of parents for online learning

makes it more difficult for the teacher to offer to learn to the 4-10 years old children.

Moreover, some of the parents are not financially strong to set the digital learning

system for attending online classes. Lack of devices and internet facilities is also creating

issues for offering knowledge and information about the course. The online learning is a

good option, but for small schools and universities, it will be difficult to retain the

students as passive learning can be done from leading and reputed institutions.

The researcher has collected data from 50 respondents that involved people from

different age groups and occupations. According to table 1, 20% of respondents were aged

between 20-25 years, 40% were 25-30 years, 40% were 30-35 years, and 20% were above

35 years. Moreover, 70% of respondents were male, and 30% were female.


Table 1. Opinions of the participants for COVID-19 being a critical issue for

humankind.

IQ Themes / Categories f %

Cri

tica

l is

sue f

or

hu

man

kin

d

Impact on the lifestyle and economic activities

Affecting the economic, social and

environmental actions

Not an issue for social distancing and follow-up

of protecting measures

Disagreeing all

20 40

15 30

10 20 5 10

In the current scenario, COVID-19 has become a critical issue for society in terms of

continuing the routine personal as well as professional lives. According to analysis, 40%

of respondents were agreeing that COVID-19 is having a serious impact on the lifestyle

and economic activities of people. 30% of respondents were strongly agreeing that

COVID-19 is influencing mankind and affecting the economic, social and environmental

actions. However, 20% of respondents were disagreeing that COVID-19 is not a serious

issue as social distancing and follow-up of protecting measures will be helpful to

overcome the impact. Moreover, 10% of respondents were strongly disagreeing. Apart

from this, 100% of respondents have considered that COVID-19 has affected the

businesses and other sectors badly and having a direct impact on the social life and

economic actions of individual and organisations.

545


Table 2. Opinions of the participants for the need of changes in education system.


Need

of

Ch

an

ges

implement changes in the education system not wishing to changes the existing system of education

45

5

90 10

The educational system has also got affected by the COVID-19 and will have long term

impact. According to table 5, 90% of respondents agreed to implement changes in the

education system. However, 10% of respondents were still not wishing to changes the

existing system of education.


Table 3. Opinions of the participants for online learning as an alternative.


On

lin

e L

ea

rnin

g

in favour of developing and promoting online

education system not in favour of changing the existing approach

of education

45

5

90 10

The online learning system is a good alternate for maintaining the study and planning

the future learning approach. According to an analysis of data collected from

respondents, it has carried out that 90% of respondents are in favour of developing and

promoting online education system. However, 10% of respondents were disagreeing and

not in favour of changing the existing approach of education.

Table 4. Opinions of the participants for promoting online learning.


Pro

moti

ng O

nli

ne L

earn

ing

promoting the online teaching in this period

using the internet and technical devices

50

100

547


Educational institutions have to promote learning through online mediums that

will help to maintain the flow of education and support in generating income. 100% of

respondents were agreeing for promoting the online teaching in this period using the

internet and technical devices.

Table 5. Opinions of the participants for benefits of online learning.


Ben

efit

s of

on

lin

e le

arn

ing

in favour of using online resources of promoting

the learning to overcome the impact of COVID-

19

not agreeing for managing the learning system

through online

40

10

80

20

Moreover, online learning will be beneficial for students and teachers also as it

will help to engage both and maintain educational flow as per the schedule. 80% of

respondents were in favour of using online resources of promoting the learning to

overcome the impact of COVID-19. 20% of respondents were not agreeing for managing

the learning system through online as it will increase the financial pressure on lower-

middle-class parents to develop infrastructure.


Table 6. Opinions of the participants for having long term impact.


Hav

ing

long

term

impa

ct

setting new trends for managing the study

not setting new trends for managing the study

45 5

90 10

The proposed changes in the educational system will help to manage the learning

as it will have a long term impact. 90% of respondents considered that the online system

would help to set new trends for managing the study. 10% of respondents did not agree

for it.

3. Discussion

The governments are working on isolation, quarantining the suspected person

through tracking the contact person and not allowing the large gathering. These

approaches are helping some extent, but it is not the permanent solution for managing

the social and economic conditions of the world, as mentioned by McKibbin and Fernando

(2020). Our findings have revealed that other than these steps, there is a need for taking

actions on the ground of educating people through online platforms. The lockdown and

closure have affected the employment level, as well as many companies, has deducted the

salaries of employees which creating more pressure on humankind to maintain the

lifestyle and pay the fixed amount for maintaining the daily needs. Our findings have

also stated that the negative impact of COVID-19 has been witnessed on all sectors and

industries which definitely create a dearth of new employment opportunities. The

education system requires changes and implementation of online tools and technology

will be beneficial. The online classes and sharing of lecturer notes and data using the

online platforms will be effective for maintaining the flow of the education system. The

same kinds of findings are revealed in our research where the significance to educational

institutions is given highly. As per the analysis, there will be good opportunities for

549


institutions that are offering the distance learning programs can promote it for further

system development and sharing the approach of maintaining the services. This kind of

process has the potential to grow and offer education for all type of students from lower

standards to higher education, as stated by Vladescu (2016).

Moreover, the study has analysed that the rise in collaborative work by taking the

help of communities at a large extent will be beneficial for the institution to promote

learning through the new system. The modernisation of the education system is

essential, and for the implementation of new technology, this is the right time. Apart

from this, the study has found out the challenges for institutions like the absence of a

uniform and centralised online system for all type of institution is affecting and the

development of such a system will take time as per the viewpoint of Sintema (2020). In

our research findings, high numbers of respondents have shown confidence that such

changes in the educational system could be good for the students as well as teachers and

long term positive impacts can be witnessed. For developing countries and

underdeveloped nations will be very difficult to establish such infrastructure in the

coming years as the economic condition of countries are under pressure. The lack of

funding and expertise in rural areas will influence the approaches of institutions for

implementing the online education plan.

4. Conclusion

From the research, it has carried out that COVID-19 is having a serious impact on

the businesses and other sectors. The research has identified the impact of this pandemic

issue of the education system and approaches of the institutions for offering the learning

through other mediums. According to the study, people are facing serious issues related

to learning and looking for new approaches to learning. The leading authorities have to

consider the seriousness of the issues and have to take the corrective measure for

improving the situation that will help to normalise the things and support in enhancing

the living experience. The lack of technical understanding of students and teacher is also

a big challenge for the system to offer training and support. The proper implementation

of rules for social distancing and sanitising will also increase the operational cost of the

institutions. Moreover, the sudden shift to online learning will be difficult for the

countries and educational authorities due to lack of infrastructure and planning for the

format that suits the new approach. It becomes difficult for the educational institutions

to maintaining the operational cost and retains the students.

For the betterment of the educational system and approaches of institutions need

changes. To maintain continuity in learning and to share the knowledge with the

students, it is recommended to the institutions to adopt the technology and engage the

students in learning. The implementation of smart learning tools like Padlet and Edmodo

can be used for offering the learning. By offering the training to the staff members and

collecting the feedback from the parents related to the online system will be useful for the


educational institution to overcome the issues related to take classes and engage the

students.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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